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There isn't the land available in NYC to have this kind of a setup unless Staten Island was the location. To have the olympics in the US again, they will have to look into this London model I think. You need something special to win these days, like a new park, interesting architecture, etc.. I think NY's time will come some day though... too great a city to never have the olympics. When you are competing with the Tokyo's, Dubai's, etc of the world, you can't expect to pull another Atlanta or even Chicago's effort (which was lame as hell). The Olympics today is all about legacy and glitz...and of course politcs (which will turn back in the favor of the US sooner or later). NY should have proposed the olympic site on the brownfields or landfills of staten island, using it to redevelop that blighted area and bulding transport to/from manhattan. Much better than the fragmented proposal they had.

There isn't the land available in NYC to have this kind of a setup unless Staten Island was the location. To have the olympics in the US again, they will have to look into this London model I think. You need something special to win these days, like a new park, interesting architecture, etc.. I think NY's time will come some day though... too great a city to never have the olympics. When you are competing with the Tokyo's, Dubai's, etc of the world, you can't expect to pull another Atlanta or even Chicago's effort (which was lame as hell). The Olympics today is all about legacy and glitz...and of course politcs (which will turn back in the favor of the US sooner or later). NY should have proposed the olympic site on the brownfields or landfills of staten island, using it to redevelop that blighted area and bulding transport to/from manhattan. Much better than the fragmented proposal they had.

What is currently developing into the Olympic Park in London was once an industrial wasteland consisting of scrap yards, depots, warehouses and rail yards with soil contaminated by arsenic, asbestos and other nasties.

Location wise, Stratford is the confluence of multiple rail lines (tube, DLR, overground, commuter, intercity and international) and was of sufficient distance that the cost of land wasn't stratospheric but still accessible from Central London.

When I think of an area in New York of a similar background, the area that comes straight to mind is that of the Sunnyside yard. You have lots of underutilised land, either in the form of rail yards and warehousing. There are also numerous Subway and LIRR lines that run through the area so connections to the wider New York area wouldn't be a problem. In fact, it could provide an opportunity to tidy the area up transport-wise;
- A proper Subway and commuter train interchange based around Queens Plaza station, relieving pressure on the subway lines radiating out of New York Penn, while the Long Island City station site could be redeveloped,
- The Q/N extended to La Guardia

Following on from my previous message (#2087), it would appear that Google have updated their satellite images for London. This morning it dated back to around the middle of last decade, now it's probably about 6 months out. You get a good idea of the scale of the entire project: http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&hq...72098&t=h&z=15

That's the River Lee (although confusingly it is also called the River Lea) and the Lee Navigation. Where the river seperates into several channels, this area is referrred to as the Bow Back Rivers, before they converge again to enter the Thames at Leamouth. The current situation is both a relic from when the area was a marsh and human-managemenet of water levels in the early era of the Industrial Revolution with the focus of moving goods by navigable river.

Pre-Olympics, the area north of the Olympic Park was part of the 26 mile long Lea Valley Regional Park which was already in a good condition with wide paths and controlled water levels for various recreational uses such as rowing clubs and barge homes. Southwards was a different matter; unpleasant and filled with grim grey warehouses. With the Olympics and other non-Olympic residential developments this remaining section of the river is being rehabilitated.

I work in what was once maltings (dating back to the 1600's, now converted into offices) that overlook a quaint canal that spurs off the River Lee. Technically if I was in possession of a barge I could commute from my home, to the office and on into London for meetings, although the train is a lot quicker!

In addition to my previous response, while I may have been a bit bleak of the river south of the Olympic Park, you do get the odd curiosity, such as Three Mill Island (now used as a film studio and similar in appearance to what my offices look like).

I slogged my way round a rain soaked South East London. Apart from a few shots of the Shard all these projects are either high and Mid rise in the Isle of Dogs or low to mid rise in Canada Water or Deptford Creek or Greenwich (about 2 miles south of Canary Wharf or 5 miles from the West End.

^^ Excellent news, one step closer to construction; 18tph or the equivalent of a 400m long train arriving into London Euston every 3 minutes will be a sight to behold. London to Birmingham in under 50mins, Manchester in 73mins, and Leeds in 80mins.

It's been eight years since the introduction of the Oystercard across London transport, now the next steps are being taken to making travel around London that bit more easier and convenient.

Transport for London has said it will upgrade its travel card readers so passengers can swipe debit or credit cards from 2012

The capital's transport authority said that work to adapt card readers on buses, trams, and at tube, London Overground and Docklands Light Railway stations will start this year.

All of London's 8,000 bus fleet are scheduled to be fitted with the new technology in time for the 2012 Olympics. TfL said this will enable quick and easy access to buses for the millions of visitors expected during the Games.

The system will then be rolled out onto the tube, Docklands Light Railway, tram and London Overground network before the end of 2012. TfL is also in discussions with the train operating companies that serve London about whether contactless payment cards could be used on national rail services where Oyster is currently accepted.
To make the new system possible, TfL said it is upgrading software in the Oyster smart card system to recognise contactless credit and debit cards issued by Visa, MasterCard and American Express as well as Oyster cards.

Most visitors to the capital arrive without a public transport ticket and have to buy one. The change will mean they can use a contactless credit or debit card to pay for public transport, in the same way that they can now make low value purchases in many coffee shops and other retail outlets, said TfL.

Will Judge, TfL's head of future ticketing, said that people will also use bank cards as an alternative to the Oyster contactless smart card, or when they have left their Oyster card at home.

"As more people use their bank-issued cards to pay for their travel directly, TfL's costs will reduce, delivering better value for money for London's fare and taxpayers," said Judge.

A TfL spokeswoman told GGC that, while the fares when using swipe cards will ultimately be the same as when using the Oyster card, which is much cheaper than paying cash, it is not yet known if this will apply in the scheme's early days.

"Once it is fully rolled out, fares will be the same as the pay-as-you-go fares," she said. "We are working through the prices for the initial roll out on buses only."

Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, said: "It is tip top news that from next year a simple tap of a contactless bank card will be enough to whizz you from A to B in this great city.

"London leads the way in so many different fields and we will be the first in the world to allow the millions using our tube, trams, buses and trains to benefit from the ease of using this technology."

Another excellent photo of the Shard taken by skyscrapercity.com forum member cybertect. The red metal structure in the foreground is the remains of the old London Bridge station bus stop, which is being taken down as part of a wider redevelopment of the London Bridge station (now in its 175th year of operation) that won't fully start until the Shard is complete.